Chapter 89 Flying Raijin

The sky darkened as chakra accepted the very air around us. Through my summons, I could see battles taking place all over the land. Somewhere along the line, the Kages stepped onto the battlefield and faced powerful foes.

Orochimaru was battling Lord Third; the snake bastard couldn't help repeating history. Zabuza, and Haku were fighting Yagura and his Jinchuriki, surprisingly. Even though the rogues didn't die.

It felt odd to see them again. What wasn't odd was Sasori fighting his Kage, Rasa, and Gaara. That was a showdown for the history books. Explosions rained from above, announcing Deidara's presence on the battlefield; the Stone Jinchurikis were nearby, but there wasn't much they could do about a flying enemy. I didn't see Onoki anywhere; he couldn't be hiding somewhere. Right?

The gold and silver brothers were here, though they had yet to transform, and Raikage was kicking up a storm trying to defeat them. They were sealed away during the last act, fooled by Ino-shika-cho junior. If Raikage can't defeat them, I would rob his face in it.

Kimimaru and Temujin were also on the battlefield alongside reanimated Uzumakis. The jonins had their hands busy with the Uchiha's and Uzumakis, and the Genins weren't much better. I saw a hint of orange among the chaos and couldn't help but smile. Were Naruto was any stronger, he could wipe the floor with these guys. I'd have to increase his training, when this is all over.

I turned back to Tobirama. Once I defeated him

"One God, seeking stability, split into Yin and Yang. It is those two opposites working together that give rise to all things in the universe."

Roots burst from the ground to cage the Second Hokage; he frowned at me as he took out a kunai.

"You dare to use my brother's power against me!" he sliced through my jutsu, and I really was mine, wasn't it? The chakra might not belong to me, but the two idiots were in my body. I never thought there would be a day when I could confidently say I was a Wood-style user. I was researching it, but I was a way off from practicing.

A wave of water rushed towards me, threatening to drown me. I smiled as I weaved my chakra through the waves, taking command and throwing it back at Tobirama.

"Water style, Water dragon jutsu!"

"No hand seals!?" Tobirama exclaimed as he leaped back. A wall of water slashed up to block the act, and my water dragon crashed into it.

"Great," I sighed, wringing out my hair. "Now I can be wet and cold."

The water show parted like a curtain as Tobirama rushed out, kunai at the ready.

I summoned a sword, and we clashed in a brilliant show of power. The water rippled around us as we moved. Tobirama moved with the intent to kill; unlike Hashirama, Tobirama had no reservations about killing a child, let alone his own. That or he really thought I was Madara in disguise.

The sound of blades rang in my ear as we fought. He was fast and strong, but with my "Powerup," It was almost unfair. Our blades clashed, and we glared at each other. Using his height to his advantage, he pushed down on his Kunai, trying to overpower me. I smiled smugly, channelling my chakra into the blade, and sliced through his kunai. His eyes widen as I swing my sword through his arm as well. I was behind him iinstantly, summoning a Black receiver; I slammed it into his back. Or that was the plan anyway. My attack slammed into the ground, cracking it, but there was no undead body.

I stood upright and folded my wings around me in time to block the attack.

Yellow and white, I'd intended to do this one at a time, but the gods were cruel.

Minato and Tobirama leaped off my wings and stood in opposition. What a drag.

I stepped aside as Tobirama and Minato threw a kunai at me. With these eyes, I could easily see the paper bomb attached to Tobirama's and seal to Minato.

I grabbed Tobirama's kunai, pulled off the tag, and attached it to Minato's kunai before throwing the blade in the direction Minato's kunai was heading. The result was immediate.

Minato's kunai appeared beside Tobirama, exploding from the tag. Minato appeared where his kunai was in time to receive the kunai I threw.

The two fell back; the battle would have been over that second were the two mortals. As it was, they regenerated, glaring at me as their body pieced itself back together.

"Those eyes are more powerful than I thought," Tobirama cursed as he stood. "I won't fall for the same trick twice."

The two late Kages flanked me, ready for round two. I couldn't stop the chuckle, Madara's bad influence showing its ugly head. I'm not using the power of these eyes, but if you really want to see it.

"As if I'd let you!" Minato exclaimed, and in a flash, he was in front of me, Rasengan swirling in his palm. He really was so cool. My wings moved to block the attack, but like Naruto did many times, it broke through. Minato's eyes widened as he saw my smile. He really looked like Naruto.

I clicked my heel against the ground, splitting it open more than I wanted, but still acceptable. Minato stumbled when his feet caught in the crack, and I reached forward, flicking his forehead, headband and all. He flew back and crashed into the stunned Tobirama.

Water slicked through the ground and cut towards me, Tobirama retaliating even as he pushed back.

I took a deep breath.

"Fire style, Phoenix Sage Flower jutsu!" I breathe. A fireball crashed into the water attack before breakingapart into a volley of death. The ground shook from the impact, interrupting some fights around us and burning some undead.
I frowned. This attack also was too strong. I would need to train in control if I didn't want to kill anyone. It didn't matter with undead, but this could be a problem.

"Such power," Minato coughed from the smoke and debris. "What are those eyes?"

"The eyes of the sage, the Rinnegan," Tobirama explained. "I'm not sure how they obtained it, but considering it once belonged to a god."

"This isn't going to be easy," Minato finished.

I wasn't using the power of the Rinnegan; the optical abilities were ones I already had, thanks to my summons.

I relaxed my shoulder as my wings scattered into pink petals. Minato damaged them with his Rasengan, and with these eyes, I didn't really need them. Minato took out another of his kunai as he stood ready for more.

"If we destroy her eyes, won't she be powerless?" Minato asked.

Tobirama stood his own kunai ready. "Destroying doujutsus is my specialty," he declared.

Minato summoned his Flying Raijin kunais, and Tobirama commented on it. Minato sheepishly admitted it was a copy of Tobirama's own jutsu, and I took this time to check on Kakashi, and the white fang was kicking his ass, as expected. Kakashi couldn't bring himself to fight his father. I awoke one of my puppets and sent her his way, tuning in to the Hokage's conversation to see Minato perform a multi-shadow clone jutsu on his kunai. Flying Raijin kunai from both Kages suddenly surround me. The two vanished, and I felt their chakra move through the seals. My senses had increased since my awaking, and I felt like I could see in the fourth dimension. I called upon my summons and surrounded myself with them.

The two popped into existence on either side of me and attacked simultaneously.

They moved in a blur, their deadly movements too fast for mortal eyes. But I saw it all.

I danced around their attacks, using my flexibility to bend out of the way. Those I couldn't dodge, were substituted with my summons, which retaliated on my behalf. White, yellow, and pink flashed as he danced. Wounds healed instantly, and chakra refilled infinitely. There was no end to this stalemate. I stopped in the flurry of movement, grabbing both Kages by the wrist to hold them still.

"Senkei senbonzakura Kageyoshi," I declared. My summons form the infamous dome of death. "Ikka Senjinka," all blades pointed inwards at us and vibrated with chakra. I substituted away as the blades flew towards us.

I stood outside the dome that surrounded all of their Flying Raijin. There was nowhere to run. They screamed as swords rained. It was a bit much, but they were immortal; they could take it. When the last sword fell, the dust settled, and a graveyard of swords greeted me.

Minato and Tobirama's disfigured forms lay pinned under dozens of swords.

The ground rumbled, and I turned to see the seven-tailed Chomei on the battlefield. I took a moment to admire the beast and its wings that were its tails. Tobirama groaned, cursing his brother as the beast wreaked havoc. I needed to wrap this up, too.

Minato rose to his feet and looked determined. He closed his eyes, and I could see the natural energy gathering around him. Tobirama seemed to be getting serious, too. I wasn't sure I could beat them both if they got serious, so I decided to end this.

"Sorry to be anti-climatic," I said, standing between them. "But this is it." The soul-stealing seal appeared on both hands, and they leaped away from me. It was too late for that now.

"All mighty," I channeled chakra to my eyes, my hand reaching for them. "Pull."

The force grabbed them, and they shot towards my outstretched arms. Their necks fit well in my hands.

The warring chakra inside me settled down, so I felt comfortable adding more. My seal went to work sucking out their soul. Their bodies lost color and crumbled as they struggled. Tobirama looked at me with pure hatred as his body went limp. The paper coverings fell away to reveal another puppet, just like Hashirama. I released the doll and looked down at the swirl of chakra the size of tennis balls. I held Tobirama's ocean-blue chakra to my lips and swallowed him whole. He felt cold going down, and I felt a bit of a brain freeze. Unlike Hashirama, who gave me a stomach ache, Tobirama settled down well. I was relieved.

I glanced down at the problem child, Minato, who wasn't one ball but two. I had forgotten he had the fox. I was going to get heartburn from eating him.

"Itadakimasu," I grimaced as I swallowed them one after the other.

I sat on the ground in a lotus and waited for the backlash. I didn't have to wait long.

My body burned from the inside, making it hard to breathe. I held my poster, doing what I could to circulate the chakra so it didn't burn my coils. Madara would handle this. He would take anything I couldn't. He would protect me.

Sure enough, a fire that seemed insignificant beside the roaring lava rushed to suppress it. Surprisingly, more chakra rose to subdue the Flames. The Kages worked together to stop the Fox's chakra from causing damage. Even the fox was trying to control himself. I smiled as I felt the seal take hold. It wasn't strong enough to hold them if they resisted, but it did contain them and gave me an endless pool to draw from.

My shoulders sagged in relief. Sure, chaos was all around me, but I managed to remove the most powerful shinobis from the battlefield. Hot tears ran down my cheeks without my permission. I was just so happy. After failing to protect the Uchihas, I was relieved I managed to do something right.

The chakras harmonized within me, and suddenly, it felt like I was on the shores of Hawaii again. With a volcano in the distance, the winds carried the scent of the ocean, sitting under tree shade with the hot sun above. Yes, this was paradise.

I stood looking out at the battle of tailed beasts. The eight-tails was out and about, as was the two tails. I took a step when my vision was suddenly absurd by a flower.

Sasuke ran through the chaos to Sakura's location. They all felt it, the enormous burst of chakra comparable to a tailed beast. Sasuke saw Sakura go off in that direction and was worried. She was always doing things alone; he wanted to stand by her side just once.

Itachi stepped in with Naruto's Anbu guard to distract their parents, though Fugaku didn't seem bothered about letting him go. He wasn't sure how this reanimation jutsu worked, but it seemed his parents remained unchanged by death. Their desire for his death aside.

Sasuke moved over the path of destruction a tailed beast caused and around the holes left by Deidara's bombs. He kept his senses on Sakura's chakra signature. The burst of energy had calmed down, but it was far from stable. His red eyes spun as he leaped over the wall of debris.

Sakura stood In one piece.

Sasuke ignored the blood as he approached her. Sakura, covered in blood, wasn't new, though he felt uncomfortable normalizing it. She stopped a bit from her, looking her up and down for any lingering wounds. There was none; Sakura's healing factor was only matched by Naruto's. Sasuke sometimes felt jealous of the two, though Sakura made sure to heal him when injured.

"Sakura," he called when she remained motionless, her back to him. "Are you okay?"

Sakura sighed.

"I thought everything was going too well," she said. It was her voice unaltered, and Sasuke felt some relief until her words sunk in. Something went wrong? Well, things are always going wrong, aren't they?

"It's fine," he assured her. "We can fix it. Together," he said after a pause. His face heated, recalling her earlier action. "Together" has a whole new meaning now.

"Together…" Sakura muttered thoughtfully. "That might work."

Sasuke smiled, pleased she was listening to him. He took a step forward.

"Let's head back," he began. "Dad would definitely want to see you again, and Mom is-"

"Sorry, Sasuke," Sakura interrupted him. It was the same tone Itachi used. She turned to him then, and he was horrified to see her eyes covered with flowers like a blindfold and her face cracking as she smiled. "Maybe next time."

The ground rumbled, and a human-sized cherry blossom rose from the earth, its petals closing around Sakura. Through the gaps, Sasuke saw a seal spreading over her body as she sat in a lotus. The petals closed into a bud, forming a small space around Sakura.

Sasuke stood shocked before rushing to her. He wasn't sure why, but that smile said there would be no next time.

"Sakura!" he cried, pulling at the petal, but it was useless. He stepped back and spat a fire jutsu at it. The flower shimmered with pink light, and the wound was gone. The earth pulsed, and the flower bud rose into the air. The bud was like a tower that overlooked the battlefield, standing higher than the mountain.

Sasuke bit his thumb in frustration, summoned his hawk, and flew high. The two soared towards the bud, Sasuke hell-bent on getting her out. She was closing off again. She always did that, taking on tasks on her own. As Sasuke drew close to the bud, the ground rumbled once more. Wood sprouted from the ground, wrapping around the flower stem like a tree bark.

Sasuke's hawk flew out of the way as the lower exploded into a cherry blossom tree.

It was so sudden that people stopped their flights to gawk at the giant cherry blossom tree. In this frozen land of Ice and snow, life blossomed into a ginormous tree.

"Sakura," Sasuke moaned sadly.

Get in my belly! I'm getting jujutsu Kaisen vibes, wasn't my intention though. I'm really excited about the next chapter!

"This tree, could it be the tree of the Oni?"

Next time!

"I'll burn it to the ground!"

Chapter 90 God tree.

Coming.

September 30

Until next time

Night Song~